166 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRAN"DA. 



of Labrador ever confluent in Davis Straits, so that there 

 was continuous ice between the two regions ? This must be 

 answered in the negative ; for the evidence already given of 

 the thinness of the ice over the outskirts of Greenland is 

 inconsistent with any great extension of it from Greenland 

 into Davis Straits, especially as the bottom, a short distance 

 from the shore, descends rapidly to a depth of several thou- 

 sand feet. This depth, together with the great width, which 

 is here about six hundred miles, renders it extremely im- 

 probable that ice could ever have been supplied from the 

 continent rapidly enough to have filled the whole intervening 

 area 



This leads to the second question, relating to the elevation 

 of the land at the time of the glacial period. That the land 

 on both sides of Davis Straits was much higher before and 

 during the glacial period than it is now is shown by the great 

 depth of the Greenland fiords and by the submerged channels 

 through the Gulf of St. Lawrence. From the mouth of the 

 Saguenay River to the margin of the Atlantic plateau two hun- 

 dred or three hundred miles south of Newfoundland there is a 

 well-marked deep channel through the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 several hundred feet, and toward the mouth from 1,200 to 

 1,500 feet, below the general level of the bottom of the Gulf 

 and of the Banks. In other words, if that region should be 

 elevated six hundred feet, the whole area covered by the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence and the Banks of Newfoundland would be- 

 come dry land, intersected by a cafion from 1,200 to 1,500 

 feet deep, marking the ancient course of the St. Lawrence on 

 its way to the sea. The inference is irresistible that in 

 pre-glacial times that area was elevated to a height of from 

 1,500 to 2,000 feet; otherwise the erosion of such a channel 

 is inconceivable. 



The argument from the fiords in Greenland is of a similar 

 nature. Their depth is such as to indicate a former elevation 



